when you were young
by hangmeuptodry
Summary: AU. From the day she met Sasuke and Naruto, she knew they were crazy. As she grew up, she noticed that they may not be perfect, but that was okay. They were boys. Ino always said that boys never understood girls. Ever. —SasuSaku, Team Seven


**A/N: **Rip on me for being a teenager that watches drama filled shows like Pretty Little Liars, but I really don't care to be honest. Without rewatching all of the seasons with my best friend tonight, I wouldn't have stumbled upon "Glitter in the Air" by Pink. When I looked it up later on, I had a burst of creativity. This is, obviously, a non-massacre AU fic, set in a world where Sasuke and Sakura and Naruto are childhood friends. I know I shouldn't be starting another project before finishing "Dicta Prius", but shut up. I do as I please. Now, enjoy.

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"Sakura, why aren't you eating? My mom made those rice balls especially for you. It's like she doesn't even care if I eat."

I wanted to roll my eyes at Sasuke-kun and his ridiculous words. His okaasan always made sure he had two times as much food as he needed for _himself_, let alone the extra she always put in for me, knowing that both my Haha and Chichi were usually out, for missions or work.

I wanted so badly to just eat the rice balls she made for me and enjoy this Saturday afternoon lunch with him, but I couldn't. Not when I was so full of self pity I was incapable of swallowing much of anything else.

If only Ino-chan hadn't of said that. If only I was strong enough to not let it get to me.

"_The only reason he hangs out with you is because he thinks you don't like him, which is stupid because you do. You're just too scared to admit it."_

She hadn't meant to make me so upset that I almost started to cry. Ino-chan was my best friend, well, besides Sasuke-kun, and she never tried to make me cry.

My hand went to the ribbon at the top of my head and I felt the expensive silk.

"Sasuke-kun…" he turned to look at me with his mouth full.

There was a flower petal in his hair from when Ino-chan had tried to put a daisy chain on his head.

"You're my friend because I'm your friend, right? And because you like it when we play together and when we have lunch together, right?"

Sasuke looked at me the way he looked at his first beetle. He was confused and he didn't understand why I was making all this noise. The only thing he heard was probably _buzzbuzzbuzz_…

"Sakura, stop being all weird. Let's just eat so we can go back home. Aniki said he'd play with us today."

I ducked my head low enough to hide my frown and grabbed a rice ball, chewing it quickly.

"Okay, Sasuke-kun."

I knew I couldn't count on him to make me feel better. Sasuke was a boy and Ino said boys never understood girls. Ever.

The rice balls weren't as good today.

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_chapter one_

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On my first day at the academy, my mother and father dropped me off in front of the building where I would soon enough develop my skills and imparted to me words of advice.

My mother said to me, while frowning at the pale yellow dress my father had placed me in that morning, that "this was the first step to my future as a kunoichi" and that once I got in there and found my place "I would realize everything I was truly capable of".

She kissed me and my father, giving him a look I didn't recognize, and left for her mission in a flurry of leaves I usually loved to play with.

Not that time, though. I was too nervous.

My father, after taking a picture of my horrid smile with his Polaroid camera, knelt down and fixed a stray lock of hair that was probably making my short mane look messy, telling me there was "no pressure" on me to continue at the Academy if I "didn't like the idea of being a kunoichi".

After a reminder to keep my dress clean, he left for home and I walked towards the Academy, lunch in my hand and butterflies in my stomach.

* * *

Kids were cruel.

They hated my dress, they hated my hair, and they hated my name…

But, most of all, they hated my forehead.

"Geez, you can land a whole plane on that thing."

This one girl, Ami, said that to her friends while she had her finger on my forehead, making the size contrast between it and her finger make my forehead look even bigger.

I wanted to go home and never come back to this stupid school—or any stupid school if there were kids in it—ever again. I wanted to yell at my dad for putting me in the stupid dress, and yell at my mom for my stupid hair, and yell at my grandma for giving me such a stupid name.

Most of all, I wanted to yell at the sky, because I didn't know who gave me such a stupidly big forehead.

But right now, I only wanted to sit on the very edge of our designated playing field and eat lunch alone, since I hadn't made any friends to have lunch with.

The girls in my class were all huddled together. Most of the boys were running around, racing each other and stepping on worms they found on the sidewalk, which was damp from yesterday's storm.

Actually, all of the boys were doing that, except for _one_.

He stood beside a group of girls that were talking to him and asking him questions he didn't really seem to understand, but he smiled anyway.

He had a nice smile.

I hadn't caught his name during the introduction circle we formed earlier, but I wish I had.

He looked so nice in his black t-shirt and shorts that I ducked behind a tree to watch him, afraid people would start looking at my dress after seeing his casual clothes and think I was trying too hard to be pretty.

Ino always said it was confidence that made a person, not their clothes. She said that was why I wouldn't ever look as good as she did.

I knew she was right and I found myself wishing she was there with me, instead of being at normal kid school.

"Hey, you!"

I ducked behind the tree again, thinking that someone had come to bother me again.

The voice followed me anyway, and a boy with sunny yellow hair and big blue eyes—kind of like Ino's but shinier and darker and lighter all at the same time—came to stand in front of me.

It was Uzumaki Naruto, the Fourth Hokage's son.

I'd seen him before all over Konoha with his father and mother, eating dinner or at festivals, looking at Konoha from the top of the Hokage Tower.

"Do you have an extra pair of chopsticks? I broke mine!"

His loud voice managed to knock me off my feet and my bottom fell on the dirt covered floor.

"Oh! I'm sorry!"

His hands were wet and sticky like all of the other kids' hands I'd ever felt, but he was nicer than all of them put together and pulled me up from the floor.

My dress was now dirty.

Naruto looked at it, face scrunched up with what looked like serious thoughts.

"I'll bring you to Sasuke! He'll know what to do. I'm not so good at fixing up messes and stuff like he is. He's such a girl," and then he started laughing like he'd pulled a good one on this "Sasuke" person but I didn't get it because my mom was the messiest person ever and my dad always cleaned when he was home, even though he didn't like it.

All of a sudden, Naruto was pulling me towards the other kids, ignoring my words about how I was fine and that I didn't care if my dress was dirty since it was already ugly.

"What are you doing, Loser?"

It was his voice. The boy with a nice smile was now looking at Naruto and his hand around mine and my dirty dress with squinty eyes.

"Did you get her dirty?"

"OI, DUCKBUTT! I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING, OKAY? SHE TRIPPED!"

The boy, who I now knew was called Sasuke—or Duckbutt, in Naruto's case—looked at Naruto like he didn't believe him before looking at my dirty dress.

I could feel air breezing on my knees, which meant there was a tear in the side of the yellow fabric.

Naruto was waving his arms around in front of Sasuke, who was still looking at my dress, saying things to Naruto that I couldn't hear because my heart was pounding so hard I could hear my blood pumping in my ears.

I didn't hear a word and I didn't say a word until Naruto grabbed my hand again, pulling me out of the grassy area, away from all the other kids.

"Wait! Where are you taking me?"

Sasuke looked back at me from Naruto's side and gave me a small smile.

The butterflies that had disappeared with the sound of his voice returned.

"We're taking you back to my house. My Okaasan can fix your dress real good. She always fixes me and Aniki's shirts."

I started to hyperventilate.

I was going back to the boy with a nice smile—err, Sasuke's house!? But it was too soon and I wasn't ready and I was dirty and my chichi always said to not go to any boy's house without his permission and without him trying to marry me and I wasn't ready to get married even though Sasuke seemed nice enough to marry because he had a nice smile and and—

The cobblestone path below me was hard on my head.

* * *

So how was it? I kept it short for purposes only I understand.

(Reviews are like naps on a Sunday. Amazing and good for my health.)

xx mm.


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